" You will see, philosophical values will fade away in your country, too. To advance themselves, politicians will increasingly claim beliefs that they don’t actually possess. Values are a reflection of the soul. And as souls fade, people no longer need values. Souls fade gradually because of the substitution of the inner imagination by technology: smartphones, intelligent toys, the array of electronics at malls, all make soulful intelligence less necessary. "

― Robert D. Kaplan , In Europe's Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond